Cell Walls - KU-LIFE

The plant cell wall provides a rigid support that allows the plant to stand upright and provides a barrier against invading organisms. However, the cell wall does not simply constitute the physical confinement of the cell. The cell wall is a highly dynamic structure with importance for growth and development, cell to cell communication, and transport processes. In addition, cell wall polymers make up most of the plant biomass and specific polymers are commercially very important in food and non-food applications. The cell walls of plants contain a number of different polysaccharides. In spite of the inherent difficulties in working with these polymers, the knowledge of their structure has expanded considerably in recent years. However, with regards to the function and biosynthesis of the polymers the knowledge remains extremely limited.

 

In cereals cellulose and arabinoxylan make up much of the cell wall. This situation is in contrast to other plants where arabinoxylans are rare in the primary walls and xyloglucans and pectins are present in much higher amount.

 

Cell wall polysaccharides are synthesized by glycosyltransferases - most of which are located in the Golgi vesicles. Glycosyltransferases use nucleotide sugars as donor substrates and transfers the sugar moiety to an acceptor substrate.